Going Local: Virginia

Systemic Noncompliance: VA Dept. of Education finds Fairfax County at Fault for Refusing to Provide Related Service of Vision Therapy

6.20.22: Article published. 6.22.22: Article updated to include information provided 6.16.23 by FCPS’s ESY coordinator and by OSEP Director Valerie Williams in the June edition of OSEPS Monthly Update email.

Fairfax County Public Schools is in hot water again for another count of refusing to provide services to students. About six months after Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found FCPS at fault for systemic noncompliance between April 2020 and June 2022, and required FCPS to meet with the families of 28,000+ current and graduated students to determine compensatory services for students enrolled during the time period investigated by OCR, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) found FCPS at fault for more systemic noncompliance. Like OCR, VDOE is requiring FCPS to meet with the families of students impacted and address compensatory education owed to the students.

Dear VDOE: Is it Okay for Compliance Specialist to Write “I’m Winging It” in Investigation Letter of Findings?

“I’m winging it here”.

These are the words of a compliance specialist writing a Letter of Findings in response to a state complaint investigation.

They also are the words that no parent wants to see written by a compliance specialist.

Dear VDOE: Is it Okay for Compliance Specialist to Judge, Joke at the Expense of Parent Advocating for Her Child?

Yesterday I shared comments from a Virginia Department of Education staff member, which appear in a Letter of Findings (LOF) to which she contributed.

Here’s another curious comment that appears in the same document:

“This is my justification for the length of the narrative in this case—they made me do it!! ? I wanted to separate the three categories of requests that Parent had initiated las summer — IEP, ESY, Reevaluation, Reading inventory testing. Sheesh. It shows the confusing atmosphere that FFX handled professionally. She was making lots of FFX staff work, sometimes in conflict with others. Please edit and make it better, ML.”

U.S. Dept. of Education to Investigate VA Dept. of Education’s Response to Fairfax County Public Schools Civil Rights Violations; What Actions has VDOE Taken with “Similarly Situated” Districts?

United States Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs announced its continued investigation into Virginia Department of Education will include examining VDOE’s “response to the Department’s Office for Civil Rights findings that Fairfax County Public Schools failed or was unable to provide a free appropriate public education to thousands of students with services identified in the students’ individualized education programs during remote learning. Specifically, OSEP would like to learn about the actions the State has taken, or plans to take, with similarly situated districts in light of these findings.”

The announcement came in a May 12, 2023, letter from Valerie Williams, director of OSEP, to Lisa Coons, VDOE’s new superintendent of public instruction and is a follow up to OSEP’s February 17, 2023, letter to Coon’s predecessor Jillian Balow, which announced OSEP would be conducting additional monitoring activities, to include an on-site investigation. According to the May 12 letter, the on-site will occur during the week of September 25, 2023.

The Curious Case of Virginia Dept. of Education’s State Complaint Findings: Determining Nature of Specially-Designed Instruction During Eligibility

Virginia Department of Education has a long history of engaging in incomplete state complaint investigations, making irregular decisions following its state complaint investigations, and/or ignoring credible allegations of noncompliance altogether.

United States Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs has noted VDOE’s problematic state complaints a few times, in differentiated monitoring support letters dated June 23, 2020, February 8, 2022, March 16, 2022, September 1, 2022, January 17, 2023, and February 17, 2023.

Yet, VDOE’s state complaint process remains as bizarre as ever, with VDOE’s investigation decisions reading as if VDOE didn’t so much a peek at the evidence—more Ace Ventura than Sherlock Holmes.

In this case, VDOE makes a statement of noncompliance, but then finds Fairfax County Public Schools in compliance for that exact action.

Virginians: $1,500 and $3,000 Grants are Available to Help Your Children

Qualifying students in Virginia can receive grants of $1,500 or $3,000 for tutoring, specialized therapy, and/or assistive technology, to help address the impact COVID-19 had on academic and mental health. The grants do not have to be paid back, however they must be spent within a specific period and can be pulled if not used with 30 days of the grants being provided.

Learn who is eligible and how to apply.

VA Dept. of Ed Opens Systemic Investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools: Team Composition

May 11, 2023, Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) issued a Notice of Complaint (NOC) regarding Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) being in noncompliance regarding composition of IEP and eligibility team members.

The complaint alleges that specifically, since at least 2017, FCPS has engaged in the following: a) holding IEP meetings that are in noncompliance with IDEA and implementing state regulations; b) unauthorized practice without a license; c) unlicensed “diagnosis and treatment of human physical or mental ailments, conditions, diseases, pain, or infirmities”; d) procedural violation of Parent’s and Student’s opportunity to participate in the decision-making process regarding the provision of FAPE to Student.

Fairfax County Public Schools Says Parents Aren’t Eligibility & IEP Team Members; VA Dept of Education Refuses to Investigate

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is in noncompliance with 20 U.S.C. 1414(b)(4), Sec 300.306, Sec. 300.305, Sec 300.321, 8VAC20-81-80(B), 8VAC20-81-80(C)(1), 8VAC20-81-80(D)(1), 8VAC20-81-80(D)(2), 8VAC20-81-80(D)(9).

In other words: FCPS is in noncompliance for refusing Parents rights’ to be deciding members of eligibility and IEP teams.

Category: Going Local: Virginia (page 6)